To pay or not to pay?

[Cathster]

I need some wise judgements please, as I am torn!

We are currently on the market, looking to sell our house and downsize to a smaller house in a much better area with potential for extending. We have fallen in love with a house but have yet to receive a viable offer on our house.

The issue that it comes down to (and we are in no shortage of viewings - have averaged at least one a week for the last 2 months) is the parking. We live at the end of a cul de sac, there are houses either side of the road and 5 visitor spaces at the dead end of the road. However our next door neighbours have 8(!!!) cars so often have not only used up the visitor spaces but also double park right in front of our house. We have a driveway so rarely have issues for our two cars but if we have visitors then we have problems.

The road itself looks like a car park, the neighbours often have a car being worked on in front of our house so up without wheels etc. which again does not look great!

Time and time again we are getting feedback that the house is perfect but the parking is not, so here is my WWYD.

Would you wait a few more months until the market picks up and hope for an offer and that the house that you love is still available?

Or would you convert the front garden to make a driveway that holds at least three cars?

Or would you reduce the house price?

Ultimately second or third option is going to lose us money, but we would at least have a decent driveway out of it from option two so I prefer that one out of the last two!

Should have been clearer my "to pay or not to pay" was in reference to a larger driveway which we are currently in the process of getting quotes for!

I'd convert the garden. I'm house hunting just now and parking is definitely something at the top of my list. I went to look at one house and the street was like a car park. Completely wrote the house off as I had visions of never getting parked when I got home. If the feedback is all about the parking & you can fix it i definitely would

Do you get on with the neighbours? I'd be tempted to ask them to move them for viewings

8 cars is ridiculous! You've already room for two on your drive so I wouldn't be paying to make more. If I had to, I'd probably reduce the price.

I don't think waiting is going to make any difference - the parking is still a problem and will put a lot of people off. You might get lucky, but you might also find months turns into years.
As to whether a price reduction or a driveway is the better option, it's difficult to say. Would it be worth asking the Estate Agents to go back to some of the people who said they "liked it but...." to ask them if any of them would be interested in making a lower offer, or if they would buy it if the drive whad been wider ?

I don't think the parking for your cars is the issue, but the amount of cars in the street. By adding another space you're simply making the road seem more of a car park.

Sport, posted too soon. The only thing which would make me consider is a reduction of price.

Oh, mixed responses there! Thanks everyone! Think it's unanimous that just waiting and hoping is no good though, which is what DH and I were thinking.

Our driveway has space for just my car, DH parks his on the road in front of our drive effectively blocking me in so can be annoying if I need to leave before him. And our visitors never get a space unless DH parks on the main road or our neighbours are out, so I do think converting the front "garden" - basically gravel with some plant pots - would help us.

Last thing I want though is to make the road seem more like a car park!

We have a viewing on Thursday so I think we will see how that goes and if feedback is the same we will ask the estate agent what they think would be better.

TBH the neighbours having so many cars to cause parking issues and them being worked on in the street would be a massive turn-off from me. Additional parking at your place wouldn't fix that, nor would a price reduction. Sorry.